Blacksox Porter | Haymarket Beer Co. Pub & Brewery

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Notes / Commercial Description:
This dark malty ale is brewed with loads of English Chocolate malt, a touch of dark crystal and a hefty amount of Amarillo hops - creating a complex and delicious ale with hints of chocolate covered mandarin oranges. Shoeless Joe and Judge Landis would agree on this one!

More User Reviews:

The black sox was a solid coffee flavored porter. There were hints of chocolate and earth, but coffee seemed to dominate. The color was dark with ecru head. The smell had earth and coffee. The body was medium with mild carbonation. Overall....it was very tastee.

Draft at the brewpub. Black appearance. Looks like a porter. Chocolate powder aroma, smells quite dry and bitter, roasty and faintly nutty. Taste has a pretty strong bitter bite, ashy and roasty. Texture is thin, chalky. Very dry, heavy-handed with the roasted malts. A clean beer, but not terribly enjoyable.

Another stop on the Second Annual Bachelor Party Free-For-All! This one pours a dark black-brown topped by a finger of sandy khaki foam. The nose comprises deeply-rpasted malts, coffee, dark chocolate, and light molasses. The taste brings in more of the same, with some earthy greens tossed in for good measure. The body is a light-leaning medium, with a very light moderate carbonation and a smooth feel. Overall, a very nice porter, nice and roasty without completely dismissing the hop component. Something tells me Kennisaw Mountain would indeed approve of this brew.

I'd bet on this one! Second best beer at Haymarket I have had (Mathias is still the best). The beer is very dark/black. The head is creamy - could use a bit more to cap the pour. The smell is light dark chocolate and of grain. The taste is smokey up front with a great floral hop finish. The finish makes you want to go for another sip. Great balance in this beer. Not all beers need to have enough hops to repel mosquitos. This beer proves it and I'd bet Bill Veeck would approve.

Now maybe they can brew a bitter called "the goat". Drink to reverse the curse..

Served on tap. Appearance is black with thin head and poor retention. The nose is hop forward with pine and wood present followed by sturdy roasted malts. Almost bordering on the black ale style. Taste starts roasty and develops into quite the hoppy treat. Great all around flavors here, nice marriage of chocolate and hops. The mouthfeel Is relatively light with mild carbonation. Definitely worth a try!

A - A finger-plus of tan foam settles to a thin cap, thicker collar, and sheets of glass-coating lace. Body is black. For a lower ABV porter this is quite good-looking.

S - Smells like chocolate and roasted barley. Meh.

T - Taste is less good. Chalky and lacking in appropriate sweetness. Very roast and char heavy, with elements of a Dry Irish Stout rather than an American Porter. Some unpleasant bitterness in the finish.

M - Thin and grainy body, low carbonation, and somewhat sticky and clingy in the finish.

D - Just not a very good beer. I general I find Haymarket dark beers to have too much Chocolate or Black Patent malts to begin with, but this one was particularly unpleasant.

Note: I had this again, and a lot of the char had dropped out of the finish. I've bumped up the score ever so slightly.